How To Buy Live Rock On a Budget
Welcome to Simple Reefs. We have been talking about Live Rock as part of our series on staring a simple marine aquarium. If you have questions about what exactly Live Rock is, you should check out our article on Live Rock, Dry Rock, and Life Rock for a simple explanation. Today’s article focuses on how to get your own Live Rock on a Budget. And what to do when you want a stunning rock scape in your marine aquarium but you simply can’t afford to pay the extortionate prices aquarists demand for live rock.
Why is Live Rock So Expensive?
So you have decided to put together your very own marine aquarium but you want to do it on a budget. After checking out our article on What Type of Marine Aquarium You Want, you have decided you would like a nice rock scape to help make your aquarium healthier and happier. Heading into your local fish shop to price things up, you have noticed something that, perhaps, shocked you a little.
Live rock is very expensive, ranging anywhere from £12 – £25+ per kilo. But, why is that? We have gone into this subject in depth in its very own article – Why Is Live Rock So Expensive? The short and narrow of it, however, is that live rock used to be taken directly from living reefs in the ocean which made it both plentiful and cheap. That practice is far less common thanks to conservation efforts. Meaning live rock has to be cultivated in aquariums. A process that takes a long time and is not very cost effective.
That presents us with a big problem when it comes to starting a budget marine aquarium because, let’s be honest for a second. The smallest of marine aquariums are going to need a fairly decent amount of rock if we want a decently built up rock scape. Hell, my 52L Fluval Evo has about 6 KGs, alone. Doing some quick math, that adds up to some serious money if I was to go to my local fish supplier and buy a bunch of pieces. So what is the solution?
We Make Our Own Live Rock
Quite simply, we make our own live rock. No, we don’t go diving down into the ocean to hack away at a reef. Especially not with the horrible water we have here in the UK. Thanks to all the companies who are supposed to dispose of sewage sensibly rather than into the rivers and the sea. We are simply going to take bone dry, completely dead, dry rock and transform it into live rock.
Dry Rock is incredibly cheap in comparison to Live Rock. Large boxes can be purchased for a small percentage of the cost of comparable amounts of live. In fact, if you were to calculate the price, per kilo, of dry rock, it could fall as low as only 10% of the equivalent cost of live. For example 20KGs of live rock from a popular, UK based, online stockist would cost over £500. A box of dry from another popular stockist would cost only £65.
Naturally, this is a process that will take time and it will come with its own share of problems. But, when considering the massive financial savings we can make, it is, by far, the most sensible option. Creating our live rock this way also minimises the possibility of our aquariums becoming home to a whole bunch of nasties such as the prolific glass anemone Aiptasia. Something we will talk about plenty in the future.
How Do We Create Live Rock?
If we fast forward to what I said a paragraph, or so, ago. Live rock has to be cultivated in aquariums. That is how fish shops are able to sell live rock to you directly. But what does that mean and how do we do that? How do we cultivate live rock? We tell you exactly how to do this in our article on Turning Dry Rock Into Live Rock so check that out when you are done here.
Live rock, in its base form, is a barren wasteland. It is dry, contains no bacteria on its surface, no algae, no life forms, no invertebrates and no beneficial creatures to aid us in creating a biodiverse ecosystem. When we add dry rock to a thriving marine aquarium that already contains live rock, however, all of that changes.
The dry rock will, eventually, become populated by millions of bacteria that reproduce on its surface. These bacteria form part of the nitrification cycle. Consuming ammonia and nitrites, produced by waste, and turning them into the much less harmful compound nitrates. Eventually, these bacteria will be joined by other beneficial creatures such as invertebrates, molluscs, sponges and algae.
It is this bacteria and these miniature creatures that turn dry rock into live rock. These are the things we want in our aquarium and the process of obtaining it is, really, very simple. All we need is dry rock, and a single, small, piece of live rock, nothing more. In fact, we don’t strictly need to have a piece of live rock. Bottled bacteria and live sand will suffice. Cultivating our own live rock is simple and this is how we significantly reduce the cost of our live rock.
Are There Any Downsides?
As with most things in marine aquarium ownership, there are downsides to this approach. The first of which is the fact that dry rock is bright white and, not really, aesthetically all that interesting. Not until it becomes live, anyway. The most noteworthy issues is the length of time it can take for our dry rock to become live. This isn’t a fast process and can take months. For your rock to look truly live may take years. There is also the problem of dry rock being, as we mentioned earlier, a barren wasteland.
There is nothing on the rock at all meaning the surfaces become a free for all battle royale for literally anything that wants to populate it. That bright white rock won’t stay like that for long. The problems start because algae populates surfaces far quicker than bacteria does. Meaning that, for the first six months, or so, your rock surfaces will be very susceptible to all types of algae.
In fact, if you start with dry rock, you are likely to quickly become very familiar with a few different types of nasty, namely diatoms and hair algae. After a couple of months, there is a strong chance your rocks will look like they are growing their hair out for a modelling portfolio.
It is going to take some time for the undesirable types of algae to be replaced by things we want to see on the rocks. Such as the bright pink, purple, and red encrusting algae known as coralline. It can get pretty grim in there. This is all just a part of what we refer to as “The Uglies”. The stage of your aquarium’s maturation where algae is king and everything looks a bit rough. There is something important to keep in mind, though.
It Will Pass
We are going to look at the uglies in an upcoming article and suggest a few things you can do to help. The one thing you need to remember is that it will pass. After 6 months, bacteria will populate the rocks, the algae will die off, your water parameters will stabilise and you will start to see things really settle down.
In fact, if you make a few smart investments, the algae may never get out of hand in the first place. Allowing us to keep a handle on things in a completely organic way. The Uglies are just a natural part of owning a marine aquarium and a necessary step in the process.
The main thing to remember is that you should avoid temptation to turn to chemicals to deal with the issue. Things designed to kill cyanobacteria, hair algae and other unwanted things in your tanks can cause big problems. Killing off your new bacteria and setting you back weeks or even months. Stay patient and let it play out. We are going to go into this in an upcoming article.
In Short
To summarise, the most affordable way to add rock to our new marine aquarium is to use Dry Rock. Adding a piece of live rock to the aquarium with it, or even some bottled bacteria or live sand, to make it live. Saving us a lot of money in the long run. We will see short term algae growth due to this but the algae will eventually die off when replaced by bacteria. For more information on how to do this, click this link to view our article on How To Turn Dry Rock into Live Rock.
The very temporary algae problems are worth it to save hundreds of pounds and to avoid introducing unwanted guests into your aquarium. An alternative option is to use what is known as Life Rock by Caribsea. This is a completely different product altogether that basically amounts to Dry Rock painted with salt water safe paints to make it look aged and full of coralline algae. The rocks are, also, infused with a type of bacteria that awakens when you add the rock to water. Supposedly speeding up the cycling process. We are going to go into this in an article of its own, shortly. Keep in mind that Life Rock costs double the price of dry rock and will still come with algae related problems.
Unless you have a lot of money, dry rock is the smart and affordable way to go. Once you have made your decision, you can move on with your marine aquarium ownership experience but be sure to read all about live rock before you do.
